What animals lived in New Zealand in the past?

Scott's base group have been wondering about the past.



We have asked a number of questions about Maori, life, and animals in the past. We have explored our school environment and looked at trees that Maori used and also researched about extinct NZ animals.


Today we research about Moa and other extinct NZ birds.



Here are some sketches .....

Cross Country pictures - Well done Team!

Measuring

Scott and Wanwan's maths groups have been learning about measurement. We have used non-standard units to measure a number of objects around the class.

Today we headed outside to measure tree trunks. We wanted to know how old some of the trees are in our school backyard.



We used a measuring tape and wrapped it around a tree trunk. Some trees were 20 inches round which makes them about 20 years old! Some were a lot younger and older.



We used teamwork and our problem-solving skills when measuring the tree trunks was a bit tricky.



We used metre long pieces of string to find out what objects were longer or shorter than a metre.







We then put our guessing hats on to estimate how many children wide the bottom court was and how many footsteps from one side of bottom court to the other.

Some QR code for Inquiry

Scan this QR code to read about the Pa site (Te Whetu Kairangi)





 Scan this QR code to read about the Wellington regional native plants.





little bit about Miramar's history

How did Maori shape stones?

One of our inquiry questions was how did Maori shape stones?

We decided to experiment with different types of stones and scarped them onto the ground to see what would happen.



We noticed that they changed colour and heated up if we scraped them very quickly.



We decided that it would have taken a long time and then when an adze was made, it must have been a treasure!

Trees in our backyard

Scott's base group are interested in how Maori lived, worked, and played in the past.



We got out into the school grounds today looking at the trees and what Maori may have used them for.



We sketched the leaves, berries and flowers.



The kawakawa tree outside Jude's office was used as a tea to cure stomach aches and pains. We plan on making tea and giving it a try.



Our wonderings about life for Maori in the past. How did all the trees get cut down? What type of trees grew in Miramar? What animals were living here in the past that don't live here now? How did Maori build their houses without nails, hammers and bricks? How did they carve their boats? What type of buildings did they have? Were there moa in Wellington? How long did they survive for in NZ? When did Maori arrive in NZ or Wellington? When did the first European arrive here? How long was this school a pa site? How long did Maori and the British fight for? What type of weapons did they have? What do Maori tattoos mean? Why did they tattoo their faces? Why do they always use spiral shapes for tattoos?